XIV

Cubs Once More

The cub-lions were weakly climbing down the knoll to the Broken-Claw Pride. They each said nothing and, even though they still couldn't get hunger out of their heads and stomachs, the thought of harm coming to Meersha seemed even more painful.

"First my brother, now my sister?" growled Banjija to himself.

Gatu frowned, but the continued closer to the stranger lionesses.

"Why, what do we have here?" a weird and what seemed a stretched out, ghost voice said.

The two jumped in fright as an unusual off-white lionesses popped up in front of them. Her eyes, her nose, her head and ears all seemed sharp. Everything about her was sharp and her body was slender, while her muzzle was, too, was sharp and long. The purple eyes seemed mysterious more than anything as she stared at the two teens.

"Um," said Banjija suddenly. "Er, uh..."

"Who are you?" asked the pale lion.

"I am Banjija. And this is, uh, Gatu."

"Tell me, why have you come to the territory of the Broken-Claw?"

"Er, um..." Banjija then said, having forgotten what the excuse was.

"We got lost!" Gatu abruptly blurted out.

"Oh?"

Gatu nodded. "Our pride was moving to find a better territory, when we got lost..."

The lioness looked questioningly at both, with an awkward silence.

"Yeah!" Banjija exclaimed. "And we've been traveling for three suns and three moons, just trying to find them. We're so hungry, though. Is there any chance you could lend us some scraps for the travel?"

The two cub-lions sat there, ears slightly drooped and tails low, attempting to look as sad, lost and frightened as ever. In fact, they were covered in layers of fright and chance. Would this not work? Did she not believe them? If so, what would happen? What would she and the others do to them? What would Unaro do to Meersha?!

Banjija's heart raced now, and he could hear the rhythm in his pointed ears. Gatu tried not to breathe as she stared with submission at the ground, not blinking. They could both feel the lioness's slender, slanted eyes on them, studying, watching, examining them. She was thinking. Trying to make up her mind.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour of just standing there and waiting for a dreadful fate, they heard her ghostly, calm voice say, "It is all right. Come. You can share some of the meat with our cubs."

She turned around, her long, slim tail curved at the end with a tuff of white as her huge paws padded on the golden ground, down the hill towards the other lionesses. Banjija and Gatu looked at each other with weak grins but sharp eyes. They followed, even trying to toddle in a way, making their walking clumsy like cubs.

When they neared the rest of the pride - seven lionesses - the cub-lions could tell that all the subjects to this family, looked exactly a like, besides color. Some were darker than others, or golder or reder, and so on, but they all seemed to resemble this white lioness who was leading the cubs. They all looked sharp, slim, fit, had huge paws, slanted and skinny eyes, long muzzles, a swerved tail near their tuffs. Could this have been a result of inbreeding? Or were they all just sisters? Questions zoomed into Gatu's mind at this. After all, where had they come from? They didn't have a male...it was strange...

"Sisters," said the ghost lioness. "We have company." The word "sisters" did not answer Gatu's questions, for many prides used that term when calling to the other lionesses.

They all looked up. A couple hissed. Others sniffed the air, trying to pick up their scents from a few yards off. Still, others seemed just curious.

"Mother," said a dark lioness. "What are you doing with those males?"

"Come now, Yanda. They are but cubs."

But Yawnda hissed. The "mother" looked at the lioness and hissed back, then said with a stern voice, "Do you not care for our sons?"

Yawnda shook her head. "It's not that. I love them very much. But these," she then said with disgust, glaring at Banjija and Gatu. "are not cubs."

"Do you see manes upon their heads, my sister?"

For a moment, Yawnda's narrowed eyes kept on the young ones, but finally she sighed and down, though her fur kept on end. "No...I do not..."

"There then. We have it. They are still cubs. Besides, look, this one's only got one eye. They need help."

"But I can smell it, Mother!" Yawnda then said, trying to win the argument. "I can smell the oder or an adult - at least adolescence."

The ghost lion shook her head. "Smell is very important indeed, my sister. But I can not see a mane on either of them...neither can you."

With that, she turned to look at a near den and smile. "Come, my little ones!"

Banjija and Gatu questioned for whom she was calling to, but suddenly, a bunch of little cubs came toddle/running out of the den. They scrambled over each other to stand in front of the lioness.

"Mama!" said one of the cubs. "Who are they?"

"Yeah," mewed another.

"And where's the food?" asked a third.

Suddenly, two lionesses came over, dragging a dead zebra. The cubs cheered and began to dig in, almost instantly forgetting about Gatu and Banjija.

"There is plenty for you two to eat, too. Then you can take some on your travels," exclaimed the ghost lioness.

The two would've protested, but the sight and scent of freshly killed prey was too much to handle, and so the two thankful dug in with the rest of the smaller crowd. They ate and ate until they grew full, and their tummies seemed to bulge.

"Who are you?" asked one of the tiny cubs, his mouth smeared in blood.

Banjija sat back, his eyes getting droopy as he ignored the cub with a yawn. Gatu did the same.

"You two look tired," the lioness then stated. "Come. You can sleep in the whelping den for the night. Tomorrow, you can have breakfast, then be on your way with some more meat."

Banjija looked up, about to protest, but she shook her head. "I insist."

With that, Banjija sat down, feeling strangely nervous and nodded. "Well, if you insist." Perhaps it was her purple, cutting eyes that seemed to make him feel awkward and small, but he and Gatu gave in.

The lioness led them and the little ones back to the small den after explaining how her name was Ahadgna, and how the pride called her "Mother" since she was the leader, though it did not mean she was ever their dam.

Because Banjija and Gatu were much bigger than the other cubs, they could barely fit as they squeezed into the enterence of the den. But the cubs felt warmer, and the leader lioness did not seem to care. She first licked the smaller cubs, then did the same to the two big ones, which surprised them. For once in a long while, Banjija and Gatu felt safe and loved. In fact, they hadn't felt like this since they had been with their mothers.

"I never thought this would happen...I mean I never thought I'd feel like this again," Banjija purred as his half-closed eyes stared up at the moon and the stars.

"Yeah," Gatu purred back, his one eye closed as his side slowly moved up and down.

"We could stay here forever..."

"Yeah, we just need Meersha..."

And they fell asleep.

"Faster, Mama! Hurry up!" some cub called in the distance.

The sound of shuffling and scrambling awoke Gatu. Then there was a soft roar, and he turned to look down at Banjija, who's eyes finally opened slowly as he yawned and stretched.

"What was that?" he asked.

Gatu shook his head, then gasped.

Banjija asked, "What?...Hey, where are the cubs?"

The whole den was empty but them. And, about fifty yards away, they could see that the lionesses were now racing towards the den. The cubs were behind, running as fast as they could. In the lead was Ahadgna. With her icy eyes she glared at the cub-lions, who seemd to inwardly shrink in fright.

"What's their problem?" Banjija said, sitting up.

"Banjija...!" Gatu was saying.

Banjija turned to look at Gatu and gasped.

"Your mane!" they both cried.

They suddenly took one step outside and saw their manes had started to grow again as they stared in shock and disbelief that it had began again so quickly. But, as they looked up to see the Broken-Claw Pride getting closer, they knew exactly why.

"They have manes, Mama!" said a little cub as they ran.

"Lions!" snarled Yawnda. "See, Mother? I told you!"

"Lions! Rouges!" roared Ahadgna.

"Those little rats, ratted on us!" growled Banjija. "What d' we do?"

Now the two were looking franticly around, as if trying to find the best place to escape. Above and behind them where the den was, was a steep hill, like the main one back at the White-Feather Pride. In front of them was a spread out plain where the Broken-Claw was. And far to the right - if they'd even manage to get there without getting caught - was the hill they had been on when Unaro first showed them this pride.

"Seriously, what are we gonna do? We'll be dead in a minute..." Banjija said, desperately.

Gatu finally looked behind him, then began to crawl into the den and said, "C'mon."

"Huh?"

Banjija followed right behind him. The two crawled and edged their way deeper into the low den. When one part of the rock ceiling came so low, and Gatu was scrambling to get under it to get deeper in still, he exclaimed, "The cubs are the only ones who can fit in here."

Gatu finally managed to get to the other side of the hanging part of the ceiling, just as Banjija snarled out in surprise, for a giant paw had clawed at his back. Banjija struggled around on his back to wrap all his paws around it and claw and sink his teeth into the flesh. The lioness roared out in pain and instantly pulled her paw out, just as the cub-lion let go.

"Hurry!" Gatu growled lowly and quickly at Banjija.

Banjija started to crawl under, when another paw got his tail and started to pull. "Ahh!" he cried.

But Gatu did not let go after biting at Banjija's tightened scruff. He pulled, digging his claws into the den ground and finally, the two were on the same side. Banjija looked at his tail, where just a trickle of blood was.

The two turned around and crawled in even deeper, only to get to the back part of the den where the it rose up several feet, and this circular part of it was big enough for even one of the lionesses, if they could've gotten in from the entrance, though, which was impossible.

"Now what, genius?" hissed Banjija.

"We have to find a place up there," Gatu replied, pointing with a paw up to the now-high ceiling. "to climb out of."

There was but a tiny hole up near the roof of the den. Immediately they climbed up the debris which led to the hole. Gatu began to scrape and claw at it as Banjija sat a foot lower than him. Suddenly, a small cub climbed out from under the tight wedge and was now beginning to climb up the debris. Banjija smirked and kicked him down when he came closer enough. But then, more cubs were coming into the large area of the back part of the den.

"Uh, Gatu," said Banjija, carefully but still staring at the little lions who were now climbing up the debris towards them.

"Not now. I'm almost done," Gatu growled in reply.

"But, Gatu...it's the invasion of the cubs!" cried Banjija, almost sarcastically.

Gatu glanced down at them but said, "No worries."

Right then, he took his claw and pulled away one more rock, and a bunch of it came down, adding to the debris again. The two of them climbed out of the hole and were in sunlight once more. Even though they were now covered in dust, dirt and bits of rock, they did not shake as the looked down the back of the hill. Atop the knoll, came the faces of the lionesses.

"Come back here!" roared Yanda.

Just then, Gatu's paw lost its balance, and he fell, sliding down the back of the muddied hill, down to where there was a large water hole. Banjija laughed but when he felt the force of something hit him on his back, he too, was falling and sliding after Gatu.

"Ah!" Banjija growled as the thing on his back was a cub, who was now biting into his flesh.

Just a few second later, though, the cub-lions met the water. Right in front of them was a large part of a river, where other strings of water came out in different directions as smaller rivers. The laugh-like grunts of hippos sounded through the air, mixed with monster splashes. Banjija and Gatu climbed up on the edge of the water hole, watching, horrified, for they were right near a main pod of hippos. Some were even fighting, their gigantic jaws opened so that their six-inch tusks were exposed to hopefully find themselves digging into the flesh of another hippo.